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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Today, institutional landlords—those owning more than 1,000 homes—remain a relatively small part of the national single-family housing market. They own less than 1.0% of the total U.S. single-family housing stock and have accounted for only about 0.3% of transactions over the past three years. Yet, two decades ago, they didn’t even really exist. When Blackstone began buying single-family rentals in 2011, there wasn’t a single firm that owned at least 1,000 U.S. single-family homes. By late 2016, Blackstone’s fund, Invitation Homes—which the firm later took public in 2017 and fully exited by 2019—had grown its portfolio to nearly 50,000 single-family rentals. As of the end of Q3 2025, Invitation Homes wholly owned 86,139 single-family rentals. Institutional funds buying at the bottom of the housing crash, from 2011 to 2013, marked the birth of the modern institutional single-family rental asset class. Sean Dobson, CEO and chairman of the Amherst Group—which, according to Parcl Labs, owns at least 42,973 single-family rentals—saw that shift firsthand. After the federal government tightened lending, the housing bubble burst, and single-family homes began selling below replacement cost, the government was practically begging institutional capital to step into the market around 2010, believing they could serve as a “shock absorber.” Dobson illustrates the point by noting, “When we [Amherst] first started this [single-family rental] business, we had a handshake to buy 50,000 houses from Fannie Mae in one trade.” While that trade didn’t occur, it illustrates the backdrop at the time. On Friday, Dobson will be among the speakers at ResiDay 2025—a one-day conference hosted by ResiClub in New York City. I did a pre-interview with Dobson (the full video is posted on YouTube). Below are some of his key takeaways. National home prices: Grinding sideways, with affordability as the constraint Dobson emphasized that the housing market is unlikely to see dramatic national home price swings in the near term. Neither another national boom, nor crash. He admits there’s some downward pressure on home prices, given the affordability environment we’re in, however, there’s not enough resale supply hitting the market to actually manifest a national level crash like 2007-2011. According to Dobson: “Home prices we think would be lower if there are more sellers, obviously. But there’s good reason there aren’t more sellers, right? So many people got such low interest rate mortgages that at a time when the demand would naturally fall from rising interest rates, rising interest rates also caused the [new listings] supply to fall.” “I think the overall message is that we’re on the lookout for something that changes the velocity of this whole thing and [we] can’t find it. We spent a lot of time on the Airbnb guys. I thought those guys might be the weak hands, because it’s like, who has to sell? And we have a pretty good model on how supply affects home prices. But even when you just radically change supply, it moves home prices [down] in single digits… we think you’re looking at a decade of difficulties for people to get into buying a home.” “That’s why we think we’re talking about really a next decade of a lot of demand for rental, because it’s the choice of, ‘how do I get the size, how do I get the features that come with that home, like the school location’? And that’s how long we think it’s going to take for what we would see as sort of long-term depth of some of the standards for affordability to be recaptured, because we think it has to come from income growth. And that’s staring in the face of all this business and AI, which [some] people are arguing might be driving [real incomes] down [in the future].” Fixing affordability starts with housing credit reform The further the Pandemic Housing Boom fades into the rearview mirror—and as national income growth continues to outpace national home price growth—Dobson believes national housing affordability will gradually improve. That could be sped up, he says, if some of lending tightening done during and following the Great Financial Crisis were un-done. His argument isn’t to recreate the reckless lending of the mid-2000s, but to reintroduce responsible credit risk-taking and allow back in some of the lower credit homebuyers that were in the market in, say, the 1980s and 1990s. In Dobson’s view, if lending were loosened to allow some of those lower credit score homebuyers back into the market, it wouldn’t magically improve affordability overnight; however, it would create a steady stream of housing demand for builders who could produce more lower-end single-family homes—or even manufactured homes—that weren’t built in the years following the Great Financial Crisis. He believes that would improve affordability over time. Says Dobson: “We get consulted by governors, by senior people in the federal government. Everyone kind of wants the playbook: ‘Tell me what to do and I’ll fix it.’ And we tell them [to] make more subprime mortgages. And they tend to fold up their notebooks and head on… People are frustrated, right? People are super frustrated because you have this expectation that: ‘I did all these things, and now I should be able to buy a house, and I can’t.’ You want to blame somebody, right? And if you see me [Amherst] buying it, well, you’re like, well, it must be his fault, so I get it—I think it [that thinking] is dangerous.” “They [homebuilders] don’t have demand [from that lower credit score homebuyers like they used to], and they don’t have demand because their customers don’t have financing. And they [some sidelined buyers] don’t have financing because the mortgage market doesn’t take credit risk like [it used to]… So what we [Amherst] provide is a solution today.” Tightened credit boxed out homebuyers and helped draw institutional capital into the housing market Dobson says the typical Amherst tenant has a credit score too low to qualify for a mortgage in today’s market. Without single-family rental options, many of those households wouldn’t be able to live in the same neighborhoods or school districts they do now, he argues. That challenge reflects a broader shift in the mortgage market. In Q1 1999, borrowers in the bottom 10th percentile of mortgage credit scores had scores of 597. By Q3 2025, that threshold had risen to 660, reflecting that many lower-credit households had been locked out of homeownership following the bust, Dobson says. In Dobson’s view, those tighter lending standards—implemented after the housing bust that began in 2006—helped pave the way for institutional investors like Amherst to step in and fill the gap through single-family rentals. Says Dobson: “I sat with Chairman Bernanke, I sat with Yellen, and I begged them to try to get in the way of Dodd-Frank, because I knew what was going to happen, and we lost that. I said, ‘Okay, well, we’re going to get these families in these houses some way, and we have a lease and we have financing, we can operate the real estate. So let’s get the people in the homes and get their kids in the schools, and then let all the wizards figure out, like, what’s the better solution?’ Because today, there isn’t one until someone with a 625 FICO can go borrow money at about the same rate that you and I can borrow at, there isn’t a better solution. And so that’s, you know, if you want to blame somebody, it’s the knee jerk, explainable, but too long in place reaction to the subprime mortgage crisis.” Greater homebuilding activity is helping improve affordability more quickly in Florida and Texas During our conversation, I asked him for his thoughts on the current regional housing market variation—specifically, why pockets of Florida and Texas have weakened more than markets in the Midwest and Northeast. According to Dobson: “The common theme amongst the markets that are retracing? So Austin, you mentioned Jacksonville, which is not quite as bad Western Florida—the Tampa Bay area, Cape Coral has been really, been really tough. I would say the common theme is those are places [where] it’s pretty easy to build, and as home prices moved above, kind of their construction costs, they naturally kind of tend back down. And so those places, the market did what the market is supposed to do, right? Prices were rising and rising quickly, and homebuilders came in and they built a lot of supply, even in a place like Dallas. So we [Amherst] tend to spend [time looking at local data]—because we’re like you [ResiClub], we’re in the housing market [data] all day, every day. So we don’t really do that much work on like the ‘U.S. housing market’. We do work on much smaller micro footprints. But if you take a place like Dallas—Dallas overall [in aggregate], seems like it’s okay, healthy, not great, [but] not weak. But if you bifurcate the homes by vintage year, and look at their price movements, then Dallas looks a lot like Cape Coral [in certain areas]. The new home construction market [areas] in Dallas looks a lot like Cape Coral. So builders came out—they did, you know, getting land permitted, getting lots of them platted, getting horizontals in all takes time. So there’s always a lag between when the housing market really wants to buy the homes and when builders can deliver them. And that oftentimes [it] creates too much supply [at once] trying to squeeze through a channel that [also has] waning demand.” Institutional single-family homebuying has slowed—could it accelerate again? At the height of the Pandemic Housing Boom, institutional homeowners—those owning at least 1,000 single-family homes—made up an all-time high of 2.4% of home purchases in Q2 2022, according to John Burns Research and Consulting. That period, at the tail end of the boom, was when yields were particularly attractive as borrowing costs were ultra-low, home prices were soaring, and rents were climbing rapidly. However, since mortgage rates spiked and capital markets shifted, their share has fallen to around 0.3% of transactions over the past three years. The math isn’t as favorable now. What, if anything, could pull more institutional capital back into the single-family housing market? According to Dobson: “We really think the answer to that question comes in this investor adoption question, right? Will state pension funds allocate and scale to single-family rental?” “The time that we’ve had to operate the [single-family] real estate has also made that core investor group aware that you can collect rents [from single-family rentals], you can provide good service, you can operate this as a piece of real estate. That track record is helpful, but the next wave of investing won’t come from the same sources of capital [private equity]. It’ll come from those core investors [like pension funds] finally saying, ‘You know what, a 5% or 6% cash on cash return that outpaces inflation by 50 plus percent every year has a spot in my portfolio and scale.’” View the full article

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. This week, I’m focusing on a new court filing that sheds more light on the reasons for Sam Altman’s ouster from OpenAI two years ago. I also look at Amazon’s kerfuffle with Perplexity over AI shopping agents, and at another court ruling that using copyrighted data for AI training is fair use. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at sullivan@fastcompany.com, and follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @thesullivan. Two years after OpenAI boardroom drama, a lot is riding on Altman’s trustworthiness OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has done more than anyone else to whip up faith and trust that the next industrial revolution—AI—is imminent and inevitable. That faith and trust have already loosed hundreds of billions of investment in infrastructure needed to support the transition. Some say the infusion of cash is single-handedly propping up the U.S. stock market, and, by extension, the economy. The faith and trust have moved Washington to all but abandon its oversight role in favor of acting as enabler and cheerleader. But questions of Altman’s trustworthiness won’t go away. Some troublesome details about Altman’s famous 2023 firing by his board (and subsequent rehiring and board reshuffle) came to light with the recent (unsealed) court filing of part of a deposition of OpenAI cofounder and ex-chief scientist Ilya Sutskever in a case brought against the company by Elon Musk. At the time of Altman’s ouster, the board said that he had kept key facts about the business from them. The board had also considered reports that Altman undermined his executives and pitted them against each other. Sutskever confirmed to attorneys during the seven-hour deposition that he believes Altman lied habitually. He testified that Altman had been pitting Mira Murati, the CTO at the time, against Daniela Amodei, who eventually left with her brother Dario Amodei and others to form Anthropic. We learn that Altman’s alleged behavior wasn’t short-term or a reaction to a crisis, but part of a pattern. Sutskever said he and fellow board member Murati had been documenting Altman’s indiscretions and preparing to oust him for more than a year before proposing it to the board. (They delayed the firing until Altman loyalists on the board were too few to stop it, Sutskever said.) One board member, Helen Toner, said a year after departing that OpenAI executives (likely Sutskever and Murati) began talking to the board about the Altman problems in the month before the November 2023 dustup. “The two of them suddenly started telling us . . .how they couldn’t trust him, about the toxic atmosphere he was creating,” Toner said during a TED AI podcast. “They used the phrase ‘psychological abuse,’ telling us they didn’t think he was the right person to lead the company to AGI, telling us they had no belief that he could or would change.” Sutskever, in fact, wrote a 52-page-long memo describing Altman’s indiscretions (at the request of fellow board member Adam D’Angelo, and possibly board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley). He wrote another memo about then-president and board chair Greg Brockman, who resigned after Altman was fired. Toner has offered other examples of Altman’s lies of omission, including a failure to tell the board about plans to launch ChatGPT, or that he personally owned the OpenAI startup fund “even though he constantly was claiming to be an independent board member with no financial interest in the company,” Toner said. Toner added that Altman gave the board inaccurate information about the “small number of formal safety processes” OpenAI had in place, so the board had no way of knowing how well those safety processes were working. (Toner is an AI safety expert.) People say that political infighting happens within every company. That’s probably true. People say that CEOs are like politicians; they have to balance competing priorities and personalities within the company, so a certain amount of “finessing” of the truth is expected. I’ll buy that too. And the context is important. OpenAI’s history, and the recent history of generative AI, had a lot to do with setting up the conflict. OpenAI started out as an idealistic little AI lab, but a few years later it made a breakthrough discovery that AI models got predictably smarter as they were supersized and given massive amounts of computing power. Developing frontier AI models became a very expensive undertaking, requiring massive capital. OpenAI had to spend massively to maintain its lead in the frontier model arms race that ensued, and needed consumer and enterprise revenue streams to help pay for it. (CFO Sarah Friar said Wednesday that OpenAI may look to the government to guarantee its infrastructure loans.) It’s not easy to run a business like a nonprofit in that situation. Yet Altman was answering to a nonprofit board of directors. Toner said as much on the TED AI podcast. “The board is a nonprofit board that was set up explicitly for the purpose of making sure that the company’s public good mission was primary, was coming first—over profits, investor interests, and other things,” Toner said on the podcast. Maybe something had to give. But . . . But if the CEO was (or is) hiding truths from the board, something is wrong. Given the potential risks of AI, it’s disturbing that one of Altman’s lies of omission, according to Toner, concerned safety measures. Superhuman AI doesn’t care about the corporate structure of its creators. If not responsibly aligned and governed, its potential for doing harm is the same. Amazon to Perplexity: ‘Keep your agents out of our market’ Amazon is apparently not ready for the AI agent revolution. Amazon accused Perplexity of computer fraud after the AI company’s Comet browser allowed users to search for and purchase items on Amazon’s platform. Amazon believes Perplexity needs permission from the e-commerce giant to let users do that. Its attorneys sent Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas a cease-and-desist, saying, in effect, that the Comet shopping agents are no longer welcome on Amazon. We’re in the early innings of AI agents. Some of the first consumer agents, Perplexity included, can navigate e-commerce websites and even make purchases. In the future agents may routinely do our business by interacting with other agents using a secure agent-to-agent interface—no need for a traditional web interface at all. Perplexity says Amazon sent an “aggressive legal threat” via a cease-and-desist letter dated October 31, demanding the company stop enabling purchases through its Comet Assistant. Amazon’s lawyers say that Perplexity lacks authorization to access Amazon user accounts or account details using what they described as “disguised or obscured” AI agents. Amazon has already taken steps in recent months to block external AI agents from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and others from crawling product information at its website. Perplexity accused Amazon of “bullying,” and argued that a tool that makes shopping easier for the consumer can only benefit the e-commerce giant. Perplexity suggested that Amazon is more focused on manipulating shopper decisions by showing ads, injecting upsells and confusing offers, and pushing sponsored products in search results. Amazon says Perplexity’s agents hurt shoppers by skipping over personalized product recommendations, and potentially not displaying the fastest available delivery speeds for customers. Amazon and Perplexity did not respond to a request for comment. In theory, Amazon could change its terms of service to more explicitly ban third-party shopping agents from its site. But what if such agents create real value (time savings) for consumers? Can Amazon easily ban some agents but not others? U.K. court says AI companies can use copyrighted material to train models The AI industry has notched another legal win for its practice of scraping copyrighted digital content from the web and using it to train AI models. Getty Images filed suit in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, claiming that Stability AI violated copyright when it downloaded millions of Getty photos without permission for the purpose of training its Stable Diffusion image generator. Judge Joanna Smith ruled this week that since the Stable Diffusion model didn’t store or reproduce the Getty images it can’t be said to have “copied” the images under U.K. copyright law. The court also declared that Getty would have to drop the copyright claim in the U.K. court because the training didn’t physically happen within its jurisdiction. Getty also filed its complaint in the U.S., in the Southern District of New York, but that trial is still ongoing. Neil Chilson, former chief technologist for the FTC and currently head of AI Policy with the Abundance Institute, called the decision “consistent with the nature of the technology and a successful result for continued AI innovation.” More AI coverage from Fast Company: AI is going to be a game changer for Black Friday AI hardware is reinventing the humble dictaphone Here are the best mobile AI apps Stability AI largely wins U.K. court battle against Getty Images Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium. View the full article

The company posted its best quarter for funded loan volume and shared other green shoots including greater margins on less reverse mortgage business. View the full article

Drilling for minerals deep in the ocean could have immense consequences for the tiny animals at the core of the vast marine food web — and ultimately affect fisheries and the food we find on our plates, according to a new study. Deep-sea mining means drilling the seafloor for “polymetallic nodules” loaded with critical minerals including copper, iron, zinc and more. While not yet commercialized, nations are pursuing deep-sea operations amid rising demand for these minerals in electric vehicles and other parts of the energy transition, as well as for technology and military use. The researchers examined water and waste gathered from a deep-sea mining trial in 2022. What the study discovered University of Hawaii researchers studied an area of the Pacific Ocean called the “twilight zone,” about 650-5,000 feet (200-1,500 meters) below sea level. Their peer-reviewed findings, published Thursday in the Nature Communications scientific journal, say mining waste could affect anything from tiny shrimp smaller than .08 inches (2 millimeters) long to fish 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. That’s because, after mining companies bring the mineral-rich nodules up to the surface, they have to release excess sea water, ocean floor dirt and sediment back into the ocean. That creates a murky plume of particles about the same size as the naturally occurring food particles normally eaten by the zooplankton that swim at that depth. That’s a little more than half of the zooplankton in the ocean. If those organisms eat the waste particles — what senior study author Brian Popp called “junk food” — then that affects 60% of micronekton that eat the zooplankton. And that undernourishment is a problem because these tiny organisms are the food source up the chain — ultimately affecting commercially important fish such as mahi mahi or tuna. “Surface fish can dive down deep into the water, they feed on organisms down at depth,” said Michael Dowd, study lead author and oceanography graduate student. “If these organisms down at depth are no longer present because their food web has collapsed, then that can impact higher food webs and more commercial interests.” Impact on the water and alternative sources While other research has highlighted the negative environmental impacts from deep-sea mining of nodules, the focus is often the seafloor. This study looks at mid-water. The researchers said more work needs to be done to assess the appropriate quality and depth at which dirty water and sediment from sea mining could be returned to the ocean. But they said returning the excess directly to the ocean floor or at other depths could be just as environmentally disruptive as in the “twilight zone,” only in different ways. Popp said digging up the deep sea might not be necessary, and instead noted alternative sources of metals, including recycling batteries and electronics, or sifting through mining waste and tailings. “If only a single company is mining in one single spot, it’s not going to affect a huge fishery. It’s not going to affect a huge amount of water. But if many companies are mining for many years and outputting a lot of material, this is going to spread across the region,” Dowd said. “And the more mining occurs, the more a problem it could be.” Where deep-sea mining stands It might not be viable to simply halt ocean mining. The International Seabed Authority that governs mineral activity beyond national jurisdiction has already granted several contracts for exploration. In the U.S., President Donald The President has expressed interest in deep-sea mining operations amid tense trade negotiations with China that have limited U.S. access to China’s wide swath of critical minerals. In April, The President signed an executive order directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to expedite the permitting process for companies to mine the ocean floor, and in May, the administration said it would consider selling leases to extract minerals off the South Pacific island of American Samoa. Last month, NOAA sent a draft rule to the White House to streamline operations. Environmental groups have advocated against deep-sea mining, citing not only the direct harm to wildlife and parts of the sea, but also the disturbance of planet-warming carbon dioxide that is currently sequestered in the ocean and on its floor. “It was well laid out in the study that the impacts wouldn’t necessarily be just the depth that the plume is released,” said Sheryl Murdock, a deep-sea postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University who was not involved in the study. “The question being: Is it worth a few minerals to potentially destroy the way that the oceans function?” Diva Amon, a marine biologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, praised the research for examining potential consequences. “All of this could lead to species illness, species movement, species death. And depending on the scale of this, that could have graver repercussions, like species extinctions,” said Amon, who wasn’t involved in the study but has previously worked with some of the researchers. “There’s a lot more research that needs to be done to be able to make an informed decision about how to manage this industry, if it does start, in a way that will prevent, essentially, serious harm to the ocean and ocean ecosystem.” Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org. Read more of AP’s climate coverage. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. —Alexa St. John, Associated Press View the full article

Yesterday, Nintendo launched a new Nintendo Store app for iOS and Android, finally catching up with Sony and Xbox. On the surface, it does about what you'd expect, making it easy to browse games and Nintendo news, and even purchase games outright (albeit through an in-app browser window, presumably to avoid funneling Apple hefty commission fees). But hidden in the tiniest, most out-of-the-way button in the app is a detailed tracker for your play activity—finally fixing a feature that Nintendo consoles have dropped the ball on since the original Switch launched way back in 2017. The Switch has its own activity tracker, but it doesn't tell you much Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt On their own, neither the Nintendo Switch nor Nintendo Switch 2 tell you much about your play history. It's easy to see, at least—you just need to select your profile picture in the top-left corner of the home screen to see your list of recently played games. But scroll down to check out your "Play Activity," and you'll quickly be disappointed. Most of my games don't show an exact playtime number, instead either simply saying I've "Played for a little while" or "Played for X hours or more." That's not very useful—and if try to you select a game to get more info, the system will just launch it instead. It's much less handy than, say, the daily playtime reports the Wii used to show you right on the system, which told you what day you played on and for how long. Thankfully, the new Nintendo Store app brings that detailed info back, and then some. How to view your playtime on the Nintendo Store appTechnically, there was already a way to get detailed Nintendo Switch play activity through your smartphone, but it required setting up parental controls for yourself, a lengthy process that doesn't serve much of a purpose if you're an adult. Now, though, the Nintendo Store app makes it easy, and it's glorious. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Just download and log into the Nintendo Store app with your existing Nintendo Account—the same one you used when you set up your system—and tap on your profile picture in the bottom-right corner. Scroll down to "Play Activity," and you're all set: You'll see a customizable list of your games, and tapping on any one will show you not just your total playtime, but which days you played on and for how long. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt My only complaint is that you won't have any idea of your playtime until you tap into a game, although you can sort the games list by total time played if you'd like; that will put games under categories for over 100 hours of play, over 50 hours, over 10 hours, and so on. The app even tracks playtime for the 3DS and Wii UThe new app's coolest feature? It's not limited to Switch and Switch 2. This data goes way back, and if I scroll far enough (or sort by game system), I can also see my playtime for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games. There is a catch—I don't seem to be able to see playtime by day for systems older than the original Switch, but I can see my total playtime, as well as how many separate days I played the game for. Again, to see your stats from these older consoles, you'll need to log in with the same Nintendo Account you used when you were playing on them—I've been using mine since the Wii U days. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt I'm a sucker for these kind of metrics, even if they're not fully representative of my play (I tend to bounce between my profile and my husband's profile a lot, as well as between systems). As embarrassing as it can be to see that I've spent more than 100 hours in Breath of the Wild, playtime data makes it easy for me to remember what I've played without having to keep a Letterboxd style game diary. It also encourages me to spend more time with games I might have just glanced at before or, if I'm feeling guilty after seeing a particularly big playtime number, to put down the system and spend some time outside. View the full article

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Pennywise is back, baby, and pop culture's favorite freaky clown is going back in time to kill the kids of Derry, Maine, in 1962, with future seasons (should they materialize) visiting other time periods. If my hometown saw mass slaughterings of children every generation or so, I might be tempted to pick up stakes and head on out—but the Stephen King IP train must keep rolling, and so here we are. So far, the show isn't hitting the heights of previous It adaptations, but it's shown an admirable willingness to shock—the opening scene includes an impressively graphic and rather unconventional birthing sequence, and the show has quickly made clear that no characters are safe from the dark deeds of Pennywise. While you're waiting for new episodes to drop, you might enjoy these other horror series (including other King adaptations) that hit some of the same notes. Castle Rock (2018 – 2019) Castle Rock, canceled after two (rather excellent) seasons, was a victim of failed marketing. The show was promoted as a dive into some kind of Stephen King connected universe, promising Easter eggs without suggesting much by way of storytelling. And yet! There are actual stories here, with real dramatic heft—the first season’s “The Queen,” told from the unstable perspective of a character (played by Sissy Spacek) with worsening dementia, was one of the best, and most existentially horrifying, things on television that year. The second season introduces young Annie Wilkes, (Lizzy Caplan), the Kathy Bates character we know from Misery. The cast across the two seasons is stellar, and includes Bill Skarsgård, a creepy character not named Pennywise. There’s plenty of stuff for King fans to sink their teeth into as we dive into the backstory of a different Stephen King town, but it all works rather well on its own, as well. Stream Castle Rock on Hulu. Castle Rock at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu Talamasca: The Secret Order (2025 – ) The third series in what AMC is calling its Immortal Universe of shows based on the works of Anne Rice, this one stars Nicholas Denton as Guy Anatole, a new recruit to the title organization of supernatural spies and watchers, William Fichtner as a vampire making a play for control of the organization, all while Downton Abbey's Elizabeth McGovern brings us yet another delightfully confusing accent playing the leader of the Talamasca's New York motherhouse. The show is impressively spry and lively—a bit of a surprise, given the heavy emo vibes of Interview with the Vampire and The Mayfair Witches. We're only a couple of episodes in, but the show kicks off with a rather brutal dismembering in the style of It. Stream Talamasca on AMC+. Talamasca: The Secret Order (2025 – ) at AMC+ Learn More Learn More at AMC+ Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023 – ) This is more of an action thriller than a gloopy It-style horror show, but the shows still have a couple of things in common. First, they both provide previously uncharted backstories for popular film properties; second, they're both full of monsters. Monarch does a surprisingly effective job of telling its own story within the universe of all the American Godzilla movies of the past decade or so, bringing the bigger stories back down to Earth while building out an entire decades-long monster-verse mythology in the process. Anna Sawai stars as a young teacher searching for her father, missing since Godzilla's attack on San Francisco (depicted in the 2014 film), and who finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present incarnations of the Army colonel who helped set the whole thing in motion way back in 1959. Stream Monarch on Apple TV+. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters at Apple TV+ Learn More Learn More at Apple TV+ Dark (2017 – 2020) Dark began as a mystery involving a missing child and evolved, over its three seasons, into a wildly complex narrative: a time travel-driven story that explores dark family secrets over the course of several generations. If it's not quite as bloody as Welcome to Derry, it shares with that show a willingness to put kids and teens through the wringer. Youth may be a sort of protection in some horror stories, but not here—not even a little tiny bit. The German import has a striking look and incredibly atmospheric feel, with an ensemble cast of teens and adults whose narratives are deftly intertwined across decades in a story that starts when a child goes missing (one of the least bad things that happens to the people of fictional Winden, Germany). Stream Dark on Netflix. Dark (2017 – 2020) at Netflix Learn More Learn More at Netflix The Outsider (2020) The premise here is brutal, and, to the everyone in the narrative, impossible: A kid is horrifically murdered (even Pennywise might be shocked), and the evidence decisively points to Little League coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman). It’s an open-and-shut case—except that he was out of town at a conference while the murder was occurring, and even appeared on the news in another town. The tragedies pile up, and the threat isn’t entirely natural. Without giving too much away, it’s among the most disturbing of King adaptations (it’s also incredibly engaging). There are great performances here from Bateman, as well as from Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney, one of King’s recurring characters. HBO declined to renew the show, but it adapts the entire book and ends fairly decisively. Stream The Outsider on HBO Max. The Outsider (2020) at HBO Max Learn More Learn More at HBO Max Channel Zero (2016 – 2018) A mind-bending and occasionally gruesome expansion of various online creepypastas, Nick Antosca's series takes the form of four season-long storylines. While the tone is far from juvenile, the vibe here is childhood-nightmares-come-to-life: The show's first season anticipates I Saw the TV Glow with a story about a half-remembered TV series linked to the disappearances of several children; the second sees a group of friends trapped in a tourist-attraction haunted house that exits into a disturbing alternate reality. It's all smart and genuinely freaky, existential dread blending with memorable visuals such as a child made entirely of human teeth. Stream Channel Zero on Shudder. Channel Zero (2016 – 2018) at Shudder Learn More Learn More at Shudder Lovecraft Country (2020) A Black family sets off on a road trip across Jim Crow America. Matt Ruff’s novel, on which the show is based, is one of a handful of impressive books written over the past decade or so that attempt to reconcile the unabashedly racist outlook of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft with the power and appeal of his creations, and so the series unearths some of the darkest terrors of 20th century America, and places them alongside, and inside, a Lovecraftian universe of elder gods and dark dimensions. Much of '50s period horror, like It, relies on a twisted white suburbia as a setting, while Lovecraft Country turns that on its head—none of these characters is surprised to learn that there's darkness at the heart of the mid-century American dream. The great Michael K. Williams appears here in one of his final performances. Stream Lovecraft Country on HBO Max. Lovecraft Country (2020) at HBO Max Learn More Learn More at HBO Max The Mist (2017) While its extended runtime robs this TV version of The Mist of some of the punch and immediacy of the film version, it nevertheless nails a "hell is other people" vibe with which I can't argue. The setup is basically the same, though the setting now encompasses an entire town: A mysterious mist surrounds the town of Bridgeville, Maine, and the near-impenetrable fog contains various gloopy and vicious Lovecraftian horrors. Some people respond with courage, but most are focused on saving themselves, while others approach the danger with extremely unhelpful religious mania of the kind that does more harm than even the monsters. Afew hours with these people and I'd take my chances outside. The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector leads the cast. Purchase The Mist on Apple TV+ and Prime Video. The Mist (2017) at Apple TV+ Learn More Learn More at Apple TV+ Them (2021 – 2024) Starting off in the 1950s, Them takes a stab at The Second Great Migration, when millions of Black people left the South for northern cities and suburbs; seeking opportunity and escaping overt racism in favor of slightly more veiled racism. The Emory family (led by Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas) move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in East Compton, each family member eventually haunted by a different ghost. The smiling white faces concealing vicious intent are far more frightening than any specters. The second, and final, season moves forward to LA of 1991, much as Welcome to Derry promises time jumps in future seasons, should they materialize. Stream Them on Prime Video. Them (2021 – 2024) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Midnight Club (2022) The Midnight Club, based on a few different YA Christopher Pike novels, involves a group of eight terminally ill young patients at a bucolic hospice home run by a secretive and mysterious doctor (A Nightmare on Elm Street's Heather Langenkamp). Each night the kids meet secretly to share scary stories, with each also promising to return from beyond the grave when their time comes. It's spooky and often moving without ever being schmaltzy or precious—and, while the tone is a bit more ruminative than in Welcome to Derry, it shares with the more recent series a willingness to put these kids through it. The show was planned as more than a miniseries, so the cancellation leaves several questions unanswered—but that works OK in terms of the show's overall tone, which had to do with unanswerable mysteries about life and death. Stream Midnight Mass on Netflix. The Midnight Club (2022) at Netflix Learn More Learn More at Netflix From (2022 – ) For residents of The Town (we never get a name), the feeling of being trapped in your small hometown is literal: Once you set foot there, you can never leave. Oh, and did I mention that creatures come from the woods and kill anyone found outside after dark? Doesn't sound quite as bad as the town where I grew up, but nevertheless: concerning. In the first couple of episodes, the Matthews family learn all about this firsthand when they roll into town in their RV and find themselves trapped alongside the local sheriff (Harold Perrineau)—and it's getting dark. The show's monsters aren't just mindlessly hungry, they're cunning and sadistic, and more than capable of killing residents in impressively gory ways. Stream From on MGM+. From (2022 – ) at MGM+ Learn More Learn More at MGM+ Haven (2010 – 2015) Another Stephen King adaptation that takes the source material and runs away with it, this one comes from the short mystery novel The Colorado Kid. Emily Rose stars as Audrey Parker, an FBI Special Agent sent to the titular small town of Haven, Maine on a routine case, and who gets drawn into “The Troubles," a series of harmful and often violent supernatural events that have recurred throughout the town’s history. A supernatural-case-of-the-week format gives way to a bigger mystery when Audrey comes to learn that this isn’t her first time in Haven, nor the first time she’s encountered the Troubles, even if she doesn't have much memory of her time there. While mostly set in the present, the show masters the "small towns are weird" vibe at which King excels. Stream Haven on Tubi, Peacock, and Prime Video. Haven (2010 – 2015) at Peacock Learn More Learn More at Peacock Feria: The Darkest Light (2022) Dark deeds and supernatural forces from the past haunt multiple generations—this time, in 1995 Andalusia. This import finds teenage sisters Sofia and Eva caught in a nightmare when their parents go missing while being implicated in a cult ritual that's left 23 people dead, including a woman who'd been missing for years. Tying back to 1975 and, implicitly, the fall of Francisco Franco, Feria shatters this small town's sense of community and security while calling into question the value of the organizations—including government and church—that everyone holds dear. Kids getting caught up in generational cycles of violence and shame is an extremely recognizable vibe. Stream Feria on Netflix. Feria: The Darkest Light (2022) at Netflix Learn More Learn More at Netflix View the full article

Central bank signals possible cut as soon as next monthView the full article

Over the last two years, the value of content has collapsed. Thanks to the LLM revolution, the internet is drowning in an avalanche of indistinguishable output: an endless parade of fast-food writing, recycled reports, and SEO-bait fluff optimized for algorithms instead of people. That’s why the only competitive moat left is the human story. For business leaders, this creates an urgent mandate: Storytelling is no longer a marketing tactic. It’s a strategic business imperative—the only reliable engine for changing minds and shifting behaviors. If your brand’s narrative isn’t uniquely human and demonstrably ownable, it will vanish in the churn. Here’s how to find the stories only your company can tell, and why they’re your last true moat. RECOGNIZE THE NEW DISCOVERY REALITY It’s tempting to see generative AI as a shortcut to content volume. But when every competitor can churn out a thousand posts, the value of each piece approaches zero. Audiences know this, and they’re tuning out. Trust in the media is near-historic lows. Our Brand Expectations Index shows that 81% of the general public and 84% of knowledge workers trust direct communication from companies, whether in podcasts, videos, or in-depth articles, nearly as much as they trust local news. Even the best SEO playbooks or algorithm hacks are no longer enough. The only thing that cuts through is a story that sparks a gut-level connection. Your mandate: Stop publishing for the algorithm. Start crafting narratives so bold, so human, that your audience chooses to pay attention. EMBRACE THE WHITE SPACE MANDATE This isn’t creativity for creativity’s sake. It’s about strategic differentiation. The first step is proving your story has true, ownable value. That’s the white space mandate: Use data and rigorous analysis to find the strategic gaps your competitors haven’t filled. Technology for insight, not content. Audit the media and competitor landscape. Map where they’re over-indexing and identify the questions audiences are still asking but not getting answered. That’s the white space—the open territory where a new conversation can take root. The power of the pivot. This process often forces a shift. The narrative your CEO thinks is critical may be saturated. White space analysis reveals the sharper angle, the uncomfortable, or the unexpected perspective that’s necessary to stand out. I’ve seen companies discover that the message they were clinging to was indistinguishable from five rivals, while the story that truly set them apart was hiding in plain sight. FIND THE UN-GENERATABLE NARRATIVE Once you’ve identified white space, the real work begins: filling it with something AI cannot generate. That’s the un-generatable narrative—a story born of lived experience, not scraped data. You uncover it through what I call story-mining, deliberate conversations with leaders, employees, and stakeholders to unearth personal conviction, anecdotes, and hidden ambition. The anecdote as anchor. AI can summarize your mission statement; it cannot recreate the founder’s pivotal failure or the late-night insight that led to a breakthrough. These details are specific, emotional, and unforgettable. They create a narrative that is impossible for a machine to fabricate. Conviction is contagious. When a story is proven to be unique through data and delivered with authentic conviction, it stops being mere communication. It becomes a persuasive argument capable of moving markets and shifting behaviors. THE ONLY FOUNDATION FOR TRUST In an era of content saturation, brands can no longer compete in volume. They must compete with meaning. The stories that will power your business forward aren’t the ones easily generated. They’re the ones painstakingly discovered, strategically proven, and deeply human. Because in a world of infinite content, meaning is your only engine for trust. Tyler Perry is the co CEO of Mission North. View the full article

Tech is shifting faster than the models we built our impact on. And that means even thriving nonprofits face a choice: Keep optimizing what works—or rebuild for what’s coming. Back in June, our leadership team made a decision that felt both risky and obvious: Change a strategy that was still working to accommodate an AI future. We’d been writing and speaking for years about the need for the social sector to stop talking and start doing—and we realized it was time to take our own advice. For the last five years, our organization has helped nonprofits worldwide build tech solutions in partnership with leading tech companies. It worked. It made a difference. But by 2025, it became clear: What brought us to this point won’t take us to where we want to go. We could keep matching tech needs with builders. Or we could bet on something bigger—teach nonprofits how to prepare for an AI-native future, so they can be capable of building and scaling impact themselves. We chose the latter. A BET ON THE FUTURE In recent weeks, four major reports were released: The Philanthropic Reset, AI for Humanity, Accelerate What’s Possible, and AI With Purpose. Four different sources, same message: Nonprofits are ready for AI—but the systems around them are not. The data is clear: 84% of AI-powered nonprofits lack funding to further develop and scale AI solutions. 87% of funders admit they don’t understand their grantees’ tech capacity. 90% of nonprofits don’t fund AI literacy or infrastructure. And yet, the organizations seeing the biggest results are those that fine-tune AI with their own data, test quickly, and integrate community feedback. The takeaway is simple but uncomfortable: The real bottleneck isn’t technology—it’s capacity. That realization pushed us to rebuild not just our programs, but our mental model of what “tech for good” means in an AI-native world. FROM ONE-OFFS TO ECOSYSTEM For years, the social sector has measured success by the number of pilots launched. But in the AI era, pilots don’t scale. Systems do. So, we’ve started building what we call an AI enablement ecosystem—a space where nonprofits can build, learn, and scale responsibly, together. That includes initiatives that help organizations prototype their first AI tools and build internal capacity, support proven social solutions so they can scale through responsible AI use, and a venture-style lab that develops shared infrastructure for nonprofits. But this isn’t about our model. It’s about a broader shift—from delivering solutions to building systems that deliver. WHAT “AI-NATIVE” REALLY MEANS Being AI-native doesn’t mean asking ChatGPT to write your next grant report. It means processes, interventions or even full organizations that make the most out of the promise and benefits of AI. Imagine a three-person nonprofit running a program that today would require a staff of 30. AI handles logistics, data analysis, and reporting, while humans focus on relationships, trust and connection. That’s not that far away. It’s already happening. And it forces us—leaders, funders, and builders—to rethink what kind of infrastructure we’re really financing. Are we funding innovation, or the capacity that makes innovation possible? Our bet is simple: In the next two to three years, it will be exponentially easier for nonprofits to build and scale with AI. But for that to be safe and responsible, we’ll need a shared layer of infrastructure—capacity, governance, and collaboration that helps changemakers build with confidence. We’ve spent years telling the sector to stop talking and start doing. This is why we’re doing it ourselves. Because in the end, doing the right thing isn’t about keeping what works. It’s about having the courage to rebuild while things still work. And that’s exactly what the moment demands and the technology enables. Jacek Siadkowski is the founder and CEO of Tech to the Rescue. View the full article

New York City has elected a democratic socialist as its next mayor. Across the internet, progressive internet users are hopescrolling for the first time in years and proudly declaring: “woke is back.” With his victory, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will become the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage, the first born in Africa, and the youngest in more than a century. During his victory speech, Mamdani reaffirmed his support for workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, and the rights of all vulnerable New Yorkers, including LGBTQ people. “BREAKING: WOKE IS BACK!,” one X user posted. “THERE ARE 25 GENDERS. WE’RE GOING TO TRANS THE ECONOMY. DEI FOR EVERY CHILD. AND WE’RE RELEASING THE EPSTEIN FILES!!!” “Zohran win got me feeling so woke i might detransition just to transition again,” another joked. “TRANSGENDER FOR EVERYBODY WINS AGAIN,” wrote another. BREAKING: WOKE IS BACK! THERE ARE 25 GENDERS. WE'RE GOING TO TRANS THE ECONOMY. DEI FOR EVERY CHILD. AND WE'RE RELEASING THE EPSTEIN FILES!!! — Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) November 5, 2025 “If i was zohran i would choose this precise moment to come out as a proud bisexual,” another quipped. For the online left, long disillusioned with American politics and a Demoractic party they feel no longer speaks for them, on Tuesday night, something shifted. if i was zohran i would choose this precise moment to come out as a proud bisexual — meredith 🍉 (@dietz_meredith) November 5, 2025 Mamdani won over the vast majority of voters ages 18 to 29 (78%) and 30 to 44 (66%), according to exit polls from NBC. He also received 82% of LGBTQ+ vote, compared to just 15% for Cuomo. People are feeling so hopeful, they are proudly libbing out on main. For the uninitiated, to “lib out” has been part of the political lexicon for a few years, and means to abandon cynicism, even just for a night, and indulge instead in hope and optimism. LIBBING TF OUT — Democrats (@TheDemocrats) November 5, 2025 “Forgive me father for I am libbing the fuck out,” one wrote. “Sorry to lib out but for so many of us this is the very first time we cast a vote that wasn’t framed to us as ‘the lesser of two evils,’” another posted. “We actually believed in someone, canvassed for him, and saw him…win??? like??? Something…worked???” One simply put: “New York City you have shocked the world by voting for a normal guy instead of a deranged pervert.” Even the official X account of the Democratic Party tried, too late for some, to get in on the act. “LIBBING TF OUT,” read its post. Mamdani, speaking to supporters in Brooklyn after his victory, said: “today we have spoken in a clear voice: hope is alive.” After Kamala Harris’s loss to The President in the 2024 presidential election, many were quick to blame wokeness for his return. “Woke is broke,” wrote Maureen Dowd for The New York Times. Former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, writing for the Washington Post, suggested “debates over pronouns, bathroom access and renaming schools” lost Democrats the vote. He added “campaigns of joy in an era of rage don’t win elections.” Tell that to the smiling democratic socialist, Muslim, south asian mayor of New York City. View the full article

Oracle has taken a significant step to enhance how businesses of all sizes can leverage the power of cloud technology with the introduction of its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Dedicated Region. Designed to meet the growing demand for flexibility and sovereignty in cloud solutions, the OCI Dedicated Region allows organizations to quickly deploy a complete cloud environment without the extensive space and infrastructure typically required. Scott Twaddle, Senior Vice President of Product and Industries at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, emphasized the increasing need for businesses to manage AI and cloud services in ways that best suit their unique requirements. “Organizations want the freedom to run AI and cloud services where they deliver the most value, a need that’s only growing as sovereign AI considerations drive stricter requirements around data location and control,” he said. This announcement comes as both public and private organizations seek agile solutions that can accelerate innovation and adapt to emerging business models. The OCI Dedicated Region offers full-stack cloud capabilities, enabling companies to start small—with just three racks—and easily scale their operations. This capability is especially beneficial for small businesses that may be constrained by space or resources but still wish to harness the power of a dedicated cloud environment. A compact yet powerful solution, the OCI Dedicated Region boasts modular infrastructure and streamlined service design, providing over 200 AI and cloud services in a secure fashion. The ability to operate a cloud service from their own data center allows companies that previously faced challenges in adopting a dedicated cloud region to innovate rapidly. Kazushi Koga, Corporate Executive Officer at Fujitsu Limited, highlighted the importance of flexibility in today’s cloud strategies. “With OCI Dedicated Region delivering the full range of OCI services via a small physical footprint inside our own data centers, we will be able to deploy apps and services quickly and easily to our customers while benefiting from the flexibility to expand our deployment without downtime or re-architecting,” he noted. The OCI Dedicated Region is particularly suitable for businesses looking for advanced scalability without compromising security or performance. Key features include: Modular Scalability: Businesses can start small and expand without major overhauls, making it easier to grow into hyperscale solutions. Space Efficiency: Advanced designs reduce the data center space and energy footprint needed, which is vital for small businesses facing operational constraints. Integrated Security: With multi-layered security measures in place, businesses can trust that their data is well protected while meeting compliance standards. Full Public Cloud Parity: Small businesses can enjoy the same capabilities as larger organizations, giving them access to an extensive suite of AI and cloud services without sacrificing control over their data. Oracle-operated Management: By outsourcing infrastructure management to Oracle, small business owners can focus more on innovation and less on IT complexities. However, small business owners must also be mindful of the potential challenges associated with adopting a new cloud infrastructure. The shift to a dedicated cloud service may require changes in operations and processes, which can involve upfront time and investment. Small businesses must also ensure their staff is prepared to manage and capitalize on this new technology effectively, which may involve training or hiring skilled personnel. As organizations continue to navigate the complexities of modern technology, Oracle’s OCI Dedicated Region offers a compelling solution for those looking to enhance their cloud capabilities with agility, security, and simplicity. This development underscores a broader trend of cloud innovation that directly addresses the evolving needs of businesses of all sizes. For more information, businesses can check out the original announcement from Oracle here. This article, "Oracle Launches New Dedicated Cloud Region to Boost Agility and Innovation" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Oracle has taken a significant step to enhance how businesses of all sizes can leverage the power of cloud technology with the introduction of its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Dedicated Region. Designed to meet the growing demand for flexibility and sovereignty in cloud solutions, the OCI Dedicated Region allows organizations to quickly deploy a complete cloud environment without the extensive space and infrastructure typically required. Scott Twaddle, Senior Vice President of Product and Industries at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, emphasized the increasing need for businesses to manage AI and cloud services in ways that best suit their unique requirements. “Organizations want the freedom to run AI and cloud services where they deliver the most value, a need that’s only growing as sovereign AI considerations drive stricter requirements around data location and control,” he said. This announcement comes as both public and private organizations seek agile solutions that can accelerate innovation and adapt to emerging business models. The OCI Dedicated Region offers full-stack cloud capabilities, enabling companies to start small—with just three racks—and easily scale their operations. This capability is especially beneficial for small businesses that may be constrained by space or resources but still wish to harness the power of a dedicated cloud environment. A compact yet powerful solution, the OCI Dedicated Region boasts modular infrastructure and streamlined service design, providing over 200 AI and cloud services in a secure fashion. The ability to operate a cloud service from their own data center allows companies that previously faced challenges in adopting a dedicated cloud region to innovate rapidly. Kazushi Koga, Corporate Executive Officer at Fujitsu Limited, highlighted the importance of flexibility in today’s cloud strategies. “With OCI Dedicated Region delivering the full range of OCI services via a small physical footprint inside our own data centers, we will be able to deploy apps and services quickly and easily to our customers while benefiting from the flexibility to expand our deployment without downtime or re-architecting,” he noted. The OCI Dedicated Region is particularly suitable for businesses looking for advanced scalability without compromising security or performance. Key features include: Modular Scalability: Businesses can start small and expand without major overhauls, making it easier to grow into hyperscale solutions. Space Efficiency: Advanced designs reduce the data center space and energy footprint needed, which is vital for small businesses facing operational constraints. Integrated Security: With multi-layered security measures in place, businesses can trust that their data is well protected while meeting compliance standards. Full Public Cloud Parity: Small businesses can enjoy the same capabilities as larger organizations, giving them access to an extensive suite of AI and cloud services without sacrificing control over their data. Oracle-operated Management: By outsourcing infrastructure management to Oracle, small business owners can focus more on innovation and less on IT complexities. However, small business owners must also be mindful of the potential challenges associated with adopting a new cloud infrastructure. The shift to a dedicated cloud service may require changes in operations and processes, which can involve upfront time and investment. Small businesses must also ensure their staff is prepared to manage and capitalize on this new technology effectively, which may involve training or hiring skilled personnel. As organizations continue to navigate the complexities of modern technology, Oracle’s OCI Dedicated Region offers a compelling solution for those looking to enhance their cloud capabilities with agility, security, and simplicity. This development underscores a broader trend of cloud innovation that directly addresses the evolving needs of businesses of all sizes. For more information, businesses can check out the original announcement from Oracle here. This article, "Oracle Launches New Dedicated Cloud Region to Boost Agility and Innovation" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

As the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history drags on, federal workers are left in financial limbo—and the airline industry is feeling the strain as flight delays and cancellations mount at the nation’s busiest airports. In the midst of this upheaval, American Airlines has announced “small” reductions in management and support roles at its Texas headquarters, raising the stakes at a particularly challenging moment. According to the Associated Press, the move is described as a way to align staffing with current operational needs and boost organizational efficiency. A company statement emphasized that investments will continue in other areas supporting long-term strategic goals. While American Airlines hasn’t disclosed exact numbers, Bloomberg reports that the cuts could affect hundreds of corporate jobs, mainly mid-level management and non-union support staff across IT, communications, and finance. Fast Company reached out to American Airlines for a comment. Industry and economic pressures The staffing cuts follow a quarterly net loss of $114 million for American Airlines. The company’s shares (Nasdaq: AAL) were down roughly 21% year to date as of Wednesday’s close. Meanwhile, broader economic concerns are weighing on consumers, dampening potential demand for leisure travel. A recent AP-NORC poll reveals that many Americans fear a recession, and rising tariffs under the The President administration could further drive up costs. A growing number of companies across industries have announced corporate job cuts in recent weeks, including Starbucks, Nestlé, UPS, Amazon, and others. According to a report Thursday from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, layoff announcements in October were up 175% compared to the same period last year. Prolonged shutdown raises adds weight The government shutdown has exacerbated operational challenges. Some 50,000 TSA officers and 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay, contributing to flight delays and cancellations. Bryan Bedford, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), told Fox Business that 20 to 40% of controllers at the 30 largest airports have failed to show up for work. On Wednesday, the FAA said it now plans to reduce flight capacity by 10% at dozens of airports beginning later this week. Looking ahead Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that if the shutdown continues another week, the FAA may be forced to close parts of the national airspace, potentially causing “mass chaos.” The remarks immediately rattled investors, sending shares of American Airlines, Southwest, Delta, and United downward. Experts note that because the air traffic control system is highly interconnected, partial airspace restrictions could have far-reaching effects nationwide. Sheldon Jacobson, a University of Illinois professor, explained in an interview with Reuters, “You can’t simply close one sector without it affecting the rest of the country.” American Airlines and other major carriers are particularly worried about the upcoming holiday season, traditionally a peak travel period. In a statement late Wednesday, American Airlines again urged Congress to reach a resolution and end the shutdown. View the full article

Qatar Airways will sell its stake in Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways in a share buyback valued at $896 million, the companies announced, ending the Qatari carrier’s eight-year involvement with the airline. The announcement came late Wednesday in a stock market filing by Cathay Pacific, which saw its shares gain 4.2% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday. Under the agreement, Qatar Airways will sell all of its holdings, which represent 9.57% of Cathay Pacific stock. The airline’s other major shareholders are Swire Pacific and Air China. The plan is subject to shareholder approval. “The buy-back reflects our strong confidence in the future of the Cathay Group and underscores our commitment to the development of the Hong Kong international aviation hub,” Cathay Group chairman Patrick Healy said in a statement announcing the sale. Qatar Airways, a state-owned airline flying out of the sprawling Hamad International Airport in Doha, did not acknowledge the sale itself. However, the Cathay Pacific statement included a comment from its CEO Badr Mohammed al-Meer saying the move represented the airline’s “disciplined approach to portfolio management and our commitment to delivering sustainable value for our shareholders.” “Following a period of record profitability and strong performance, this decision is part of a proactive strategy to optimize our investments and position the group for long-term growth,” al-Meer said. Qatar Airways did not respond to questions from The Associated Press on Thursday. Qatar Airways’ decision to divest likely had to do in part with its “limited strategic influence afforded by (its) minority stake,” DBS Bank analysts Tabitha Foo and Jason Sum said in an email. The latest transaction also “further consolidates ownership among (Cathay’s) key shareholders, Swire Pacific and Air China”, they added, helping strengthen the firms’ strategic control of the airline. Qatar Airways bought its stake in Cathay Pacific in 2017 in a deal valued at the time around $662 million. Back then, Cathay Pacific faced financial losses and layoffs amid increasing competition from other airlines. The Hong Kong carrier posted a $1.2 billion profit in the last fiscal year. Qatar Airways, along with Abu Dhabi-based Emirates and Dubai’s Emirates, are long-haul carriers that link East-West travel. Their location on the Arabian Peninsula between Europe and Asia have made them a key link in global transit. Qatar Airways also got a boost when the small, energy-rich nation hosted soccer’s 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar Airways had struggled during a yearslong boycott by four Arab nations and the coronavirus pandemic. However, it soared to a $2.15 billion profit in its last fiscal year. Qatar Airways also has holdings in International Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Group, China Southern Airlines, Virgin Australia and South Africa’s Airlink. Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report. —Jon Gambrell, Associated Press View the full article

There was a moment when Snapchat looked like it was destined to be a relic in social media history, losing users and missing its own revenue forecasts. Not today. Snap, the app’s parent company, announced $1.51 billion in revenue as part of its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, November 5. That figure was a 10% jump year-over-year (YOY) and beat Wall Street’s prediction of $1.49 billion, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. Snapchat beat Wall Street’s expected global daily active users (477 million versus 476 million) and global average revenue per user ($3.16 versus $3.13). Both figures were also an improvement YOY. Snap also announced a stock repurchase program for up to $500 million. Alluding to its reported $93.4 million free cash flow, Snap explained, “The goal of the program is to utilize the company’s strong balance sheet to opportunistically offset a portion of the dilution related to the issuance of restricted stock units to employees as part of the overall compensation program designed to foster an ownership culture.” Snap partners with Perplexity AI All of these figures certainly play a part in Snap’s shares (NYSE: SNAP) spiking more than 20% after-hours and into premarket trading on Thursday. But another announcement likely factored in. Alongside its quarterly earnings report, Snap shared that Perplexity AI will pay it $400 million in cash and equity as part of a coming partnership. “Starting in early 2026, Perplexity will appear in our chat interface for Snapchatters around the world,” Evan Spiegel, Snap cofounder and CEO, said in an earnings call. “Through this integration, Perplexity’s AI-powered answer Engine will let Snapchatters ask questions and get clear conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources, all within Snapchat.” Spiegel added that Snap won’t sell advertising against the responses but that Perplexity could help “drive additional subscribers.” Notably, Spiegel also shared that “Perplexity’s focus on trusted and verifiable sources really aligns with our values and makes them a good fit for our community.” News organizations such as Dow Jones and the New York Post have sued Perplexity for alleged copyright infringement, while Reddit sued the company last month for allegedly illegally scraping millions of users’ comments for commercial gain. In a lengthy statement posted to Reddit last month, Perplexity has disputed claims of misconduct. Last week, the company signed a multi-year licensing deal with Getty Images, allowing the former to display Getty’s content across its AI tools. View the full article

As a tech journalist, I've got Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS devices at home—not because I'm especially wealthy, but because I need to write about all of these platforms, all of the time—and it's my trusty Chromebook that I find myself turning to more often than not. The usual argument against Chromebooks is that they're just a Chrome browser: Windows and macOS give you the same Chrome browser, and much more besides. However, sometimes less is more, as I'll get to below. Sadly, it seems Google is less keen on Chromebooks than I am. The last Google-made Pixelbook launched in 2019, and it's been left to the likes of Asus, Acer, HP, Samsung, and others to keep new Chromebooks coming in. If you're reading, Google, it's high time we had a new Pixelbook. Chromebooks cut down on the clutterThere is the argument that Windows and macOS give you the Chrome browser plus a lot more, but most of the time, I don't really need the "more"—unless I've got some detailed image edits to do, or want to play some games. Almost everything I need runs on the web. There are a lot fewer software updates, background programs, app assistants, and system utilities to think about. While ChromeOS does have updates, they're mostly done seamlessly in the background, and applied whenever you next reboot your Chromebook. Another chore I don't have to regularly take care of on my Chromebook is tidying up the desktop or my local folders, because there isn't really anything to download, save, or sync. The laptop file system and internal storage is tidier by default, because I never use it. Chromebooks save everything instantly No save button required. Credit: Lifehacker All the work I do on my Chromebook is inside a browser, and usually inside Google apps like Google Docs and Gmail. That means everything is instantly saved—should a power cut or a system crash happen, I don't have to worry about losing what I've been working on. I don't need to check for open programs and files in the background that I might have forgotten about, and if I need to jump up and do something else quickly, I can just shut my laptop and I'm done—I'm not clicking through dozens of save dialogs first. Chromebooks put everything on the webWhen you're working inside web apps all the time, without the option of locally installed tools, syncing is seamless. To work on a document that I need to access across Windows and macOS, for example, I need to think about saving, syncing, and app compatibility. When I'm working in Google Docs in a Chromebook, everything syncs automatically. I can even have a document open simultaneously across ChromeOS, Windows, and macOS, and jump between them as needed to make edits—something which saves a lot of time. Chromebooks tie in tightly to the Google ecosystem Android phones and Chromebooks play nicely together. Credit: Lifehacker I can understand that Chromebooks may have less appeal if you're not always using Gmail, Google Maps, Android, Google Docs, Chrome, and everything else Google makes—but for someone heavily invested in the Google ecosystem (like me), they make a lot of sense. If you've got an Android phone, for example, you can use it to set up a Chromebook, share files across both devices, respond to text messages from ChromeOS, and get hotspot access with a click. There's a level of integration you don't get on other platforms. Chromebooks actually work as distraction-free devicesOne of the criticisms leveled at Chromebooks is that they're pretty much useless without an internet connection, but that's only partly true. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and even Gmail actually work perfectly well offline now. If I'm traveling without steady wifi, I enjoy using my Chromebook as a distraction-free device, getting through a ton of writing and email replying without constantly switching tabs. When wifi returns, everything I've done gets synced back to the web automatically. While we're on the subject of ChromeOS being useless when it's not online, I think it's fair to say internet access is almost ubiquitous now (via public wifi or phone hotspots), and that Windows and macOS aren't particularly useful either when the web is cut off. View the full article

In markets across the US, homebuilders sitting on unsold inventory are subsidizing mortgage rates so heavily they sometimes match the record lows last seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. View the full article

US Democratic party titan will stand down after nearly 40 yearsView the full article

Mistaken releases are bound to occur with sentencing guidelines in flux and guards overworked and undertrainedView the full article

President Donald The President has warned that the United States will be rendered “defenseless” and possibly “reduced to almost Third World status” if the Supreme Court strikes down the tariffs he imposed this year on nearly every country on earth. The justices sounded skeptical during oral arguments Wednesday of his sweeping claims of authority to impose tariffs as he sees fit. The truth, though, is that The President will still have plenty of options to keep taxing imports aggressively even if the court rules against him. He can re-use tariff powers he deployed in his first term and can reach for others, including one that dates back to the Great Depression. “It’s hard to see any pathway here where tariffs end,” said Georgetown trade law professor Kathleen Claussen. “I am pretty convinced he could rebuild the tariff landscape he has now using other authorities.” At Wednesday’s hearing, in fact, lawyer Neal Katyal, representing small businesses suing to get the tariffs struck down, argued that The President didn’t need the boundless authority he’s claimed to impose tariffs under 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). That is because Congress delegated tariff power to the White House in several other statutes — though it carefully limited the ways the president could use the authority. “Congress knows exactly how to delegate its tariff powers,” Katyal said. Tariffs have become a cornerstone of The President’s foreign policy in his second term, with double-digit “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on most countries, which he has justified by declaring America’s longstanding trade deficits a national emergency. The average U.S. tariff has gone from 2.5% when The President returned to the White House in January to 17.9%, the highest since 1934, according to calculations by Yale University’s Budget Lab. The president acted alone even though the U.S. Constitution specifically gives the power to tax — and impose tariffs — to Congress. Still, The President “will have other tools that can cause pain,” said Stratos Pahis of Brooklyn Law School. Here’s a look at some of his options: Countering unfair trade practices The United States has long had a handy cudgel to wallop countries it accuses of engaging in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. That is Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. And The President has made aggressive use of it himself — especially against China. In his first term, he cited Section 301 to impose sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports in a dispute over the sharp-elbowed tactics that Beijing was using to challenge America’s technological dominance. The U.S. is also using 301 powers to counter what it calls unfair Chinese practices in the shipbuilding industry. “You’ve had Section 301 tariffs in place against China for years,” said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a trade official in The President’s first administration and in Biden’s. There are no limits on the size of Section 301 tariffs. They expire after four years but can be extended. But the administration’s trade representative must conduct an investigation and typically hold a public hearing before imposing 301 tariffs. John Veroneau, general counsel for the U.S. trade representative in the George W. Bush administration, said Section 301 is useful in taking on China. But it has drawbacks when it comes to dealing with the smaller countries that The President has hammered with reciprocal tariffs. “Undertaking dozens and dozens of 301 investigations of all of those countries is a laborious process,” Veroneau said. Targeting trade deficits In striking down The President’s reciprocal tariffs in May, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the president couldn’t use emergency powers to combat trade deficits. That is partly because Congress had specifically given the White House limited authority to address the problem in another statute: Section 122, also of the Trade Act of 1974. That allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days in response to unbalanced trade. The administration doesn’t even have to conduct an investigation beforehand. But Section 122 authority has never been used to apply tariffs, and there is some uncertainty about how it would work. Protecting national security In both of his terms, The President has made aggressive use of his power — under Section 232 of Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — to impose tariffs on imports that he deems a threat to national security. In 2018, he slapped tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, levies he’s expanded since returning to the White House. He also plastered Section 232 tariffs on autos, auto parts, copper, lumber. In September, the president even levied Section 232 tariffs on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture. “Even though people might roll their eyes” at the notion that imported furniture poses a threat to national security, Veroneau said, “it’s difficult to get courts to second-guess a determination by a president on a national security matter.” Section 232 tariffs are not limited by law but do require an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department. It’s the administration itself that does the investigating – also true for Section 301 cases — “so they have a lot of control over the outcome,” Veroneau said. Reviving Depression-era tariffs Nearly a century ago, with the U.S. and world economies in collapse, Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1930, imposing hefty taxes on imports. Known as the Smoot-Hawley tariffs (for their congressional sponsors), these levies have been widely condemned by economists and historians for limiting world commerce and making the Great Depression worse. They also got a memorable pop culture shoutout in the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Section 338 of the law authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses. No investigation is required, and there’s no limit on how long the tariffs can stay in place. Those tariffs have never been imposed — U.S. trade negotiators traditionally have favored Section 301 sanctions instead — though the United States used the threat of them as a bargaining chip in trade talks in the 1930s. In September, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters that the administration was considering Section 338 as a Plan B if the Supreme Court ruled against The President’s use of emergency powers tariffs. The Smoot-Hawley legislation has a bad reputation, Veroneau said, but The President might find it appealing. “To be the first president to ever use it could have some cache.” Associated Press Staff Writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story. —Paul Wiseman, AP Economics Writer View the full article

Shares in language learning platform Duolingo, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOL) are plummeting this morning. As of this writing, the stock is down a staggering 25% in premarket trading. That cliff edge comes after the company reported strong Q3 numbers yesterday. So what’s the reason for today’s fall? Here’s what you need to know. Duolingo reports a strong Q3 2025 By nearly every metric, Duolingo had a strong third quarter, which ended on September 30, 2025. Here are the key metrics the company reported for its Q3: Daily Active Users: 50.5 million (up 36% year over year) Monthly Active Users: 135.3 million (up 20% YOY) Paid Subscribers: 11.5 million (up 34% YOY) Revenue: $271.7 million (up 41% YOY) Adjusted earnings per share (EPS): $5.95 Total Bookings: $281.9 million (up 33% YOY) As you can see, Duolingo’s results are nothing to sneeze at. There are plenty of companies today that would love to report 36% daily active user growth or an increase in revenue of 41%. Yet still, DUOL stock is in free fall this morning. The reason for this is one of the key metrics that Duolingo reports: total bookings. Duolingo’s total bookings forecast disappoints The Duolingo metric that investors pay heavy attention to is what the company calls “total bookings.” Total bookings is the catch-all term that Duolingo uses to encapsulate all of its revenue streams. It includes not just current revenues, but future revenues that the company has commitments for. This mainly includes subscription revenue. A customer may sign up for an annual subscription, but may only be billed for it in increments, which means Duolingo doesn’t have that revenue in its bank account yet, but it’s coming in the future. “We believe bookings provide an indication of trends in our operating results, including cash flows, that are not necessarily reflected in our revenues because we recognize subscription revenues ratably over the lifetime of a subscription, the majority of which are twelve months in duration,” the company notes in its Q3 shareholder letter. “Total bookings include subscription bookings, income from advertising networks for advertisements served to our users, purchases of the Duolingo English Test, and in-app purchases of virtual goods,” the company says. Because of the importance of the “total bookings” metric, investors like to hear Duolingo forecast acceptable total bookings growth quarter after quarter. And for the past five quarters, the total bookings growth has ranged between 33% (in Q3 2025) and 42% (in Q4 2024). But for Q4 2025, which ends on December 31, Duolingo says it expects total bookings growth to be only 21.3% to 23.5% (about $329.5 million to $335.5 million). That is well below what Wall Street had expected, as Reuters reports. So what is the reason for the slowdown in total bookings? In Duolingo’s Q3 shareholder letter, CEO Luis von Ahn said the company was pivoting to improve the platform’s teaching quality and grow its user base. This will come at an expense to monetization, which will affect that all-important total bookings metric. “In particular, we’re investing proportionally more in teaching better, and we’re prioritizing user growth over monetization in the A/B tests that get launched,” von Ahn said, adding, “We’re doing this now because we want to keep growing users for a long time, and because of our increasing conviction that AI can fundamentally change what’s possible in how we teach.” This decision reflects one of Duolingo’s operating principles, which the company calls “take the long view.” It believes that by improving the quality of its product and acquiring more users, those moves will help bring in the things investors care most about: increased revenue from increased total bookings. Duolingo’s 2025 stock slide Whether or not Duolingo’s “long view” pays off remains to be seen. But the company’s 25% premarket price drop this morning shows investors aren’t too happy with what’s been happening. This morning’s price drop compounds an already bad year for Duolingo as far as its share price is concerned. As of yesterday’s close, before today’s 25% plummet, DUOL shares were already trading down nearly 20% for the year. The company’s share price started at around $325 before rising to an all-time high of over $544 in May. But since then, shares have fallen steadily, particularly after the company faced a brand crisis after announcing an AI-first strategy that shifted the content creation from humans to artificial intelligence. As of the time of this writing in premarket trading, DUOL shares are currently trading below $200 apiece—a price not seen since August 2024. View the full article

World’s richest man has warned he will quit if investors fail to back the largest pay package in history View the full article